Women Who Shouldn't Breastfeed
If You Deal With Any of These 4 Things, You May Want to Think Twice Before Breastfeeding
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"If you have Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, or HPV, you can safely breastfeed, [and] if you have syphilis or herpes, you can also breastfeed as long as there is no lesion that can be in contact with the baby," says Dr. Ross. "Women with lesions from herpes can transmit herpes to their baby and herpes can be dangerous for infants," adds Dr. Landa. "Moms can breastfeed if there are no active lesions on their breasts and as long as the mom covers any active herpes lesions," she says. If there is active herpes on the breast, avoid breastfeeding and consider "pumping and dumping" to keep the milk supply active until the herpes lesions on the breast clear up.
But moms with HIV shouldn't breastfeed at all. "It is not safe for HIV positive moms to breastfeed due to concern about transmission of HIV to her infant, regardless of her levels of virus in the blood and use of medications to keep the HIV virus levels down," Dr. Landa stresses.